It depends @user1497207191
I went away to university from 2017–2020, and registered with a local GP there. The surgery was in a fairly well-off, studenty part of the city, so the GP's patients would've skewed young and healthy, meaning resources weren't as stretched.
I was registered with a particular named GP at the practice, and that actually meant something.
If I'd requested at the front desk, I could've had an appointment with a different GP if I'd wanted (say, a female GP for women's issues), but I could always choose to see my own doctor.
I could book an appointment with him, usually, next day, or sometimes the day after that, or I could book an appointment with him up to a few weeks in advance — either through the online system (which only showed me the plentiful appointments available with my own doctor) or via reception.
I never had to have my care pathway navigated by a receptionist, be phone-triaged, accept a phone appointment over an in-person one, or to wait longer than I felt comfortable for an appointment. I never had to face the 8/8.30am gauntlet to try and snatch a precious appointment from the hands of an elderly person in pain, or a worried parent, or any other competitors. I never had that conversation where you tell the receptionist that the GP wants to see you in 4 weeks and they tell that appointments aren't released that far in advance, and to ring closer to the time, at which point you find there are no longer any appointments left when you need them — or alternatively, the conversation where you ask for an appointment and they tell you the next available one is 7 weeks away (which was what the wait was where I lived pre-2004).
When I needed blood tests, which was quite often, I could just make a blood test appointment at the surgery and pop up the road for it, rather than having to navigate an online system to book at a phlebotomy clinic at a big out-of-town health centre or hospital. Blood tests came back from the lab (used by the large, prestigious nearby teaching hospital) incredibly quickly, sometimes in a few hours and almost never more than a couple of days, depending on the test — the only time it took longer was if it was a test which actually took that much time to do. Knowing the results would always be back quickly, I could advance-book the follow-up with the nurse/doctor with confidence.
Online services were comprehensive, easy to access, and useful, but the phone service was fine too. The staff were friendly, the doctors were helpful (at least, mine was, I never saw any of the others) and they offered extra services for primary care mental health and so forth.
That was all within the current system, just with actual sufficient resources to provide a safe, useful, modern service with continuity of care.
Of course I'm back home now, and though I chose to register at a different practice to the one I was at before I left, it's no less of a harsh back-to-reality thump 🤣
The system was breaking before the new contract, and a lot of the problems we're having now are more to do with sheer lack of resources (people, money) than with the contract per se, IMO, though aspects of it are unhelpful.